What is the Importance of Reading to Your Kids?
Reading books to your kids have a stronger, and even long lasting effect on them than you realise. Babies, even as early as a few days old, can already benefit developmentally when being read to. Reading exposes them to language. They learn to appreciate the sound before they are made aware of the words they hear. If it has that much of an effect to an infant, imagine how much more it can do for your toddler. So why SHOULD we read to our kids? One of the primary reasons for its importance is the stronger relationship it builds between you and your child. Without the presence of any distractions, — house work, TV, social media, gadgets — it becomes your sacred one-on-one time with your child to enter into a whole new adventure together. You’ll realise it could be as much FUN for you as it is for your little one! Reading to your child also means feeding their growing vocabulary. Every new book introduces new set of words they may or may not have encountered yet. This is the perfect time to be able to expand their vocabulary, with you guiding them into comprehension and practicing the new words they learn. Apart from new words, they also learn about values and moral lessons that can be picked up from the stories you choose to read to them. This is especially true with bigger kids who have experiences that they can relate with the stories being read to them. In books, they learn values like honesty, being a good friend, sharing, obedience, etc. With books, your child’s imagination flourishes. Reading to them activates their brain into re-creating the text / words into images in their minds. They are able to picture events from the stories to better understand them. Triggering their minds through reading also develops their concentration, and encourages them to listen more and be attentive to details. Reading is not only educational, it also is a social and emotional learning tool to build strong foundations as your child grows. It would be even more meaningful for your little one that you are a part of this developmental adventure with them!
Reading to kids serve as a stepping stone to induce learning for literacy
